Load times

[joeypesci]

When are loads times going to be address. They are so poor it's shocking. I'm on an i7 rig with 12GB RAM and the loads times are just wee wee (censored version) poor.

 

Some planets I just don't bother to queue for warzone from because I know the load time are going to be shocking. Tatooine is one of them.

[Diktat]

It's a flaw in the engine, so speeds up load times means tweak the engine core and that won't happen anytime soon.

 

You can speed up a bit your load times in 2 ways:

1) The obvious: get an SSD and play the game from it.

2) You've got enouhg RAM to creat a RAMDISK and copy there the game's data files and mke the game acces those files instead of the hard drive copies.

 

The second is the cheapest but you've got to work on the setup (there are threads and articles in the net explaining how to do it).

Edited July 4, 2012 by Diktat

[Sancofa]

They made perks so that you could quik travel to frequently traveled areas/worlds Which should drop you down to one or two load screens instead of six or eight.

 

THIS DOES NOT FIX THE PROBLEM but it is the only visable action that they have taken about the issue. So if you have an extra 100k credits laying around for perks you can put them on the toons that need to go from place to place.

[Sammm]

The loading times were, for many players, significantly reduced with Update 1.3. Some players even witnessed a 30-40s loading time reduction.

 

Right now, my average loading time is about 7 seconds. I use a i5 2600k + 8 GB RAM. Plus, they'll keep optimizing the engine and the loading times.

[DiabloDoom]

 

Right now, my average loading time is about 7 seconds

 

just, lol.

[MalakDawnfire]

im sorryeh but ur systema will not cut it with suhc an advaranced mmo, plz consider that ur system just sux compaired to the advnaced tehnology utlaizied in SWTOR's engrine sop usitng outdaped hardwear

[guardian_titan]

An SSD doesn't change much. I bought one myself and it hardly did anything for my loading times. >.> Given that people with high and low end systems are having issues, it's obviously the game itself and not our systems.

[Diktat]

The loading times were, for many players, significantly reduced with Update 1.3. Some players even witnessed a 30-40s loading time reduction.

 

Right now, my average loading time is about 7 seconds. I use a i5 2600k + 8 GB RAM. Plus, they'll keep optimizing the engine and the loading times.

Don't insult our intelligence.

[CloudCastle]

It takes me several minutes...about 3-4...to load most planets. Tatooine is particularly bad for some reason and so is the Fleet. I get up and go grab a drink, have a chat, and sometimes I come back and it's still loading.

[Sammm]

I'm talking about an average loading time. Sure, when I travel to planet, it increases to 15-30ish s. For group finder it's blazing fast (1s to 9s). Since, I group for heroics/flashpoint + uses elevator much more than I travel to planets, it really does give an average of 7 seconds. On very rare occasions, it goes to 20-22s but that's so rare.

 

I'll give some examples:

Ex1: I'm in the fp The Esseles and we're using the elevator to go talk to that sargeant. I'm always (this is based on hundreds of Esseles runs) the 1st to reach that sargeant. Sometimes, I even have to wait for 20-30s for the last team member to reach me.

 

Ex2: We're starting the fp Cademimu (pre-1.3). Same situation (again, this is based on about 100 Cademimu runs), I'm always the 1st to be inside the instance and I often have to wait 20-30s before the last team member appears near me.

 

Ex3: We just completed a flashpoint and we leave with our Exit Area button. Again, I'm always the first to reach the instance terminal to talk to Satele Shan. It's even worse for the last team member, often I have to wait nearly 50-60s.

 

Btw, my ethernet connection is 30 MBps. I did some tests on 3 different testing websites, it gave 29 MBps, 30 MBps and 31 MBps. So, my ISP wasn't lying.

 

I expected those forum member reactions when I wrote about the 7s average loading time. If I was them, I'd have the same reaction but anyway, if you don't believe me, so be it.

Edited July 4, 2012 by Sammm

[Elkirin]

MY load times to planets seem to be no longer than 30-seconds to a minute. It is not a blazing system just an I7 with a 12 month old graphics card and 8 gig ram.

 

Last night I helped out a new player doing a "travel to space station" companion quest and was amazed at how long I had to wait for him to load, onto his ship, into his hangar bay, onto station etc.

 

If people are experieincing the load times he does, I wonder why they bother to stay.

[Sammm]

Just for fun, I did additionel tests. Here are the results:

 

Test 1: I'm on my lvl 46 Juggernaut inside the Belsavis Cantina (official population = 60, visible character limit = medium). I use my Emergency Fleet Pass to go back to the Imperial Fleet.

Loading time = 11 seconds.

 

Test2: I'm at the Select Character screen. I double click on my lvl 32 Vanguard. I appear on the Republic Fleet (official population = 227, visible character limit = medium) near the East Cargo Hold Accesses.

Loading time = 14 seconds.

 

Test3: I'm on my lvl 45 Jedi Guardian and I'm on the Republic Fleet (official population = 235, visible character limit = medium). I use the Group Finder to join either Colicoid War Game of The Red Reaper. As soon as I clicked on the Travel Now button, boom! I'm right at the beginning of the flashpoint.

Loading time = less than 1 second.

***Before we had the Group Finder and we had to go through those "purple walls", the loading was about 7-9 seconds.***

 

Test4: I'm still on my lvl 45 Jedi Guardian and I'm still on the Republic Fleet (similar parameters). I click on the Elevator to Jedi Knight Hangar.

Loading time = 4 seconds.

 

Test5: I'm still on my lvl 45 Jedi Guardian and I enter my personal ship.

Loading time = 8 seconds.

 

Test6: I'm still on my lvl 45 Jedi Guardian and I use my Ship Exit to end up in the Belsavis Republic Orbital Station.

Loading time = 34 seconds.

 

Test7: I'm still on my lvl 45 Jedi Guardian and I click on that ship and I end up on Belsavis near the NPCs who're shooting the fugitives.

Loading time = less than 1 second.

 

Sure, the loading time to travel to planet is insanely long (30-35 seconds usually for me) but I do it so rarely. So in average, it's really about 7 seconds... because most of the loading times for me are related to elevators, hangars and group instances.

 

P.S. No, I'm not "trying to insult your intelligence". Why would I do that? I'm only trying to share informations with other members of the community. That's all.

Edited July 4, 2012 by Sammm

[Sparklehorse]

I believe this should be, and probably is, a priority.

 

They've done a decent job of listening to feedback and trying to get things in as fast as they can. I know it's sometimes not fast enough for some of us and I have grown impatient from time to time too but surely they are aware of how crushingly long some of those load times are for some of us and have some folks working on it...

 

Surely...

[TheBBP]

Load times were cut in half for me with 1.3. It is a lot better already.

[ChuangTzu]

Load times have stayed them same for me. Very long!!!

[Baphomet_x]

When are loads times going to be address. They are so poor it's shocking. I'm on an i7 rig with 12GB RAM and the loads times are just wee wee (censored version) poor.

 

Some planets I just don't bother to queue for warzone from because I know the load time are going to be shocking. Tatooine is one of them.

 

 

question...i have a less powerfull rig than that,yet i never have any lag,at all,whatsoever....i also pay 147 usd a month for my internet/telephone,dont ask

 

 

so anyways,why do you think it is that i dont get lag?yet you do with a more powerfull rig?

[Dawginole]

An SSD doesn't change much. I bought one myself and it hardly did anything for my loading times. >.> Given that people with high and low end systems are having issues, it's obviously the game itself and not our systems.

 

I have the game on a Crucial M4, one of the most praised SSD's on the market right now, and I really have never noticed a significant decrease in loading times going from planet to planet. The games does boot faster, but that was never a real issue to begin with. i7 920 OC'd to 4.2Ghz + 12GB G.Skill Sniper series.

[Diktat]

Just for fun, I did additionel tests. Here are the results:

 

Test 1: I'm on my lvl 46 Juggernaut inside the Belsavis Cantina (official population = 60, visible character limit = medium). I use my Emergency Fleet Pass to go back to the Imperial Fleet.

Loading time = 11 seconds.

 

Test2: I'm at the Select Character screen. I double click on my lvl 32 Vanguard. I appear on the Republic Fleet (official population = 227, visible character limit = medium) near the East Cargo Hold Accesses.

Loading time = 14 seconds.

 

Test3: I'm on my lvl 45 Jedi Guardian and I'm on the Republic Fleet (official population = 235, visible character limit = medium). I use the Group Finder to join either Colicoid War Game of The Red Reaper. As soon as I clicked on the Travel Now button, boom! I'm right at the beginning of the flashpoint.

Loading time = less than 1 second.

***Before we had the Group Finder and we had to go through those "purple walls", the loading was about 7-9 seconds.***

 

Test4: I'm still on my lvl 45 Jedi Guardian and I'm still on the Republic Fleet (similar parameters). I click on the Elevator to Jedi Knight Hangar.

Loading time = 4 seconds.

 

Test5: I'm still on my lvl 45 Jedi Guardian and I enter my personal ship.

Loading time = 8 seconds.

 

Test6: I'm still on my lvl 45 Jedi Guardian and I use my Ship Exit to end up in the Belsavis Republic Orbital Station.

Loading time = 34 seconds.

 

Test7: I'm still on my lvl 45 Jedi Guardian and I click on that ship and I end up on Belsavis near the NPCs who're shooting the fugitives.

Loading time = less than 1 second.

 

Sure, the loading time to travel to planet is insanely long (30-35 seconds usually for me) but I do it so rarely. So in average, it's really about 7 seconds... because most of the loading times for me are related to elevators, hangars and group instances.

 

P.S. No, I'm not "trying to insult your intelligence". Why would I do that? I'm only trying to share informations with other members of the community. That's all.

Why you keep trying to insult our intelligence?

Average is average, not just for what you want it to be. You can't take out of the equation planets to justify your hipothetic numbers, just because you stays all the time in your ship or in fleet taking elevators

[MasterKayote]

An SSD doesn't change much. I bought one myself and it hardly did anything for my loading times. >.> Given that people with high and low end systems are having issues, it's obviously the game itself and not our systems.

 

This. I bought an SSD for this game, put only my OS and SWTOR in it ... my computer goes from POST to desktop in under 10 seconds, but the load times in this game remain the same.

 

I dont even think the loading problem has anything to do with our hardware its (surprise, surprise) Biowares horrible programming. It ALWAYS hangs at around 25% load progress for the longest ... before and after it loads very quickly.

[Crosswinder]

SSD shorted the loading time fo 1/2 on my PC.

[Sammm]

Why you keep trying to insult our intelligence?

Average is average, not just for what you want it to be. You can't take out of the equation planets to justify your hipothetic numbers, just because you stays all the time in your ship or in fleet taking elevators

 

I think I understand what you mean. I think the average you're referring to is some kind of "absolute average", no matter what the occurence of each event. Based on your approach, we'd get (for me) an average loading time of:

(11 + 14 + 1 + 4 + 8 + 34 + 1) / 7 = 10,428... ~ 10 seconds.

Which is still pretty good imo.

 

The thing is each of those 7 events aren't equally distributed for me. In one of my typical SWTOR playing sessions, I use way more often elevators (on planets, on fleets) and the group finder than I travel to planets. That's why each event isn't equally distributed. Now, the "kind" of average I'm referring to is the "relative average" based on the "weight" of each event. Like you said, 7s is indeed a hypothetical number but I must not be that far from the real one. I should have kept the count of each loading time event since I started to play SWTOR but the task appeared too boring haha! But still, my relative average loading time must be much more around 7 seconds than 10-34 seconds, probably even lower than 7 seconds!

 

So, the equation looks something like:

Relative average loading time = 11 seconds(% occurence of using Emergency Fleet Pass) + 14 seconds(% occurence of loading to the game with a character) + ... + 34 seconds(% occurence of travelling to a planet).

 

I hope I was more clear this time.

 

Out of curiosity, how many times do you travel to planets in one of your typical SWTOR playing session? For me, it's usually 2-3 times at most. So let's say I have 30 loading time events in my session, then the ones for travelling planet only count for 7 to 10% of all the loading times (i.e. relative low occurence or relative low weight). If you travel to planets dozens of times in every gaming session, I feel bad for you. Also, what's your typical planet loading time? Is it more or less than 34 seconds?

Edited July 5, 2012 by Sammm

[Bloodstealer]

The loading times were, for many players, significantly reduced with Update 1.3. Some players even witnessed a 30-40s loading time reduction.

 

Right now, my average loading time is about 7 seconds. I use a i5 2600k + 8 GB RAM. Plus, they'll keep optimizing the engine and the loading times.

 

Hahaha yeah ok dude... is that 7 seconds when your inside or outside of the bubble......

 

Even my nice Mushkin SSD's cant get load times anywhere close to that and my rig is i7 3770, 16GB 1866Mhz G-Skill RAM, dual Nvidia 550ti's and 2x 256GB Mushkin Chronos MX drives and the best I can get is aapprox 60 seonds for some planets... so unless your trying to hide your Supercomputing specs at Langley... I smell something bad in the air.

Try exiting a Voistar Wz and loading back onto Tatoine or Alderaan.. and come back and say your still averaging 7 seconds.... even those planets can take me aminute and a half on a good day..... and elevators cutscenes etc... are not what people are talking about as they are not loading entire maps etc because they are already loading and just require locating...

Edited July 5, 2012 by Bloodstealer

[Sammm]

Hahaha yeah ok dude... is that 7 seconds when your inside or outside of the bubble......

 

Even my nice Mushkin SSD's cant get load times anywhere close to that and my rig is i7 3770, 16GB 1866Mhz G-Skill RAM, dual Nvidia 550ti's and 2x 256GB Mushkin Chronos MX drives and the best I can get is aapprox 60 seonds for some planets... so unless your trying to hide your Supercomputing specs at Langley... I smell something bad in the air.

Try exiting a Voistar Wz and loading back onto Tatoine or Alderaan.. and come back and say your still averaging 7 seconds.... even those planets can take me aminute and a half on a good day..... and elevators cutscenes etc... are not what people are talking about as they are not loading entire maps etc because they are already loading and just require locating...

 

I suggest to go read my previous post. I don't get your reactions. Why would I lie? Why should I lie? This wouldn't make no sense at all for me to lie, I have absolutely nothing to gain with that. This is an estimated relative average loading time based on my personal experience. Again, MY average, not yours. If you PvP and/or if you keep travelling back and forth to planets, of course your average will be much higher than mine! You'd increase your relative occurence of PvP + Planets loading times, therefore increasing your relative average loading time!

 

If you wish, I could do some more tests again. I could keep track of every loading time in one of my typical SWTOR sessions and I would show the numbers in the forum. I don't mind at all doing that. Again, in one of MY SWTOR sessions. I never said that for other players, their average couldn't be higher. I never said that my average was typical for most SWTOR players. Of course not!!! I only said that my average was 7 seconds (I should have said "was around 7 seconds"). Then, I did bring more precision in my next posts.

 

P.S. It'd be very interesting if we could combine every relative average loading times of all the SWTOR players. I bet we would end up with a bell curve. In that bell curve, I'd probably be in the extreme left side (inside the 5%). At least, in the 10%. The players in the extreme right side (after 95%) would probably be players with a relative average loading times of 90-120s. It'd be so cool if M. Zoeller would show us some official loading times stats and graphics.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Sammm

[Sparklehorse]

I suggest to go read my previous post. I don't get your reactions. Why would I lie? Why should I lie? This wouldn't make no sense at all for me to lie, I have absolutely nothing to gain with that. This is an estimated relative average loading time based on my personal experience. Again, MY average, not yours. If you PvP and/or if you keep travelling back and forth to planets, of course your average will be much higher than mine! You'd increase your relative occurence of PvP + Planets loading times, therefore increasing your relative average loading time!

 

If you wish, I could do some more tests again. I could keep track of every loading time in one of my typical SWTOR sessions and I would show the numbers in the forum. I don't mind at all doing that. Again, in one of MY SWTOR sessions. I never said that for other players, their average couldn't be higher. I never said that my average was typical for most SWTOR players. Of course not!!! I only said that my average was 7 seconds (I should have said "was around 7 seconds"). Then, I did bring more precision in my next posts.

 

P.S. It'd be very interesting if we could combine every relative average loading times of all the SWTOR players. I bet we would end up with a bell curve. In that bell curve, I'd probably be in the extreme left side (inside the 5%). At least, in the 10%. The players in the extreme right side (after 95%) would probably be players with a relative average loading times of 90-120s. It'd be so cool if M. Zoeller would show us some official loading times stats and graphics.

 

No offense mate but could you just post some proof of this stuff so we can redirect this thread back to some feedback Bioware NEEDS to see.

 

It would be nice to put this "My junk loads faster than your junk" business to bed so just provide screenshots or video to prove what you say and that way everybody can be satisfied, you can be vindicated and we can talk about what really matters...

 

Load times are incredibly long for way too many people. Please work on these Bioware.

[Sammm]

No offense mate but could you just post some proof of this stuff so we can redirect this thread back to some feedback Bioware NEEDS to see.

 

It would be nice to put this "My junk loads faster than your junk" business to bed so just provide screenshots or video to prove what you say and that way everybody can be satisfied, you can be vindicated and we can talk about what really matters...

 

Load times are incredibly long for way too many people. Please work on these Bioware.

 

I'll try to record some ingame videos but I never did that though.

 

Of course I agree that loading times are way too long for many players and I really wish that those players will see some improvements. Having to wait 2-4 minutes when travelling to a planet or a warzone, I can only imagine how frustrating it must be.